Relaxation of restrictions Part II

lawrencesummers wrote: »

In regards the overall relaxation of restrictions and the cultural changes this pandemic will have on us I think some changes in general are needed, these are just my ideas.

A lot of comparison has been made with the Spanish flu, but this is a very different world to then in a lot of ways, we have in every community highly qualified GP’s, We have online, radio, TV , print media that distributes information immediately which is key in getting people to change behavior. Our understanding of disease is much advanced on that. We will never see a disease like Spanish flu do as much damage because the world is vastly different.

We used to find it funny seeing people in Asia wearing masks. That will change, we are going to see people in the “western world” who are from the western world adopting this practice from here on and it serves a good purpose. If you are sick, have a cough etc then wearing a mask should be prescribed. How many times do you see someone on public transport with a cold / flu coughing or sneezing.

I wasn’t aware until last year but In many Asian countries people wear masks not just for paranoia reasons to avoid getting sick but because as soon as they feel any bit sick they want to stop themselves spreading. Apparently women use it sometimes as a way to avoid having to put on make up as well!

We need to start treating the seasonal flu a lot differently also. It is a very comparable disease to Covid-19, in time when the figures are in it could even be a worse by a small margin.

To severely limit a pandemic like this happening again we need Change testing. If we get to a situation medically where test kits with instant or near instant test results for viruses can be developed and kept at home then we can change how flu is contained, something like this would be possible:

Feel sick, stay home test yourself, verify with GP, get online sick cert, isolate and Stay out of work for 1 week. Move to government sick pay for week. Retest after one week and repeat if needed.

If someone is in the workplace they can be required to provide negative test to remain in work. With instant testing the containment of viruses becomes a lot better.

jester77 wrote: »

I see that the 20km restriction is lifting on July 20th. I'm supposed to be flying into Ireland on the following day, would be my daughter's first time visiting her grandparents. But I see nothing about quarintine for visitors mentioned. Anyone come across any info on this? If there is still the 14 day quarintine restriction in place, then it would make no sense for me to fly. Otherwise I could try looking to see if it's possible to rebook for Xmas or Easter next year, but not sure if I can.